As a toddler, Tretter lived with his mother aboard a 45-foot sailboat built by his stepfather, Lou Hearle.

This early love of the water led Tretter into a life filled with boats that took him to many places, including Hollywood, the Korean War, the Transpac Yacht Race to Hawaii and, finally, ownership of the landmark Marina Shipyard, 6100 E. Second St.

Tretter, 80, died Thursday at his home in Lomita after fighting diabetes and kidney failure, according to his son, Jerry, the third-generation owner of the shipyard.

Despite living a life on and near the water, Bud also got seasick once in a while.

"I get seasick, too, sometimes, so I guess it runs in the family," Jerry said.

Bud - nobody called him by his given name, Delbert - was born Nov. 6, 1931 and attended Lomita Elementary School and Narbonne High School. His family bought Colonial Yacht Anchorage, a boat repair yard, in Wilmington in 1949. Bud enlisted in the Air Force in 1951 and married his high school sweetheart, Arvilla Grosskopf, the same year.

It was while serving in the Korean War aboard a crash rescue boat that events happened that influenced him until the day he died.

After the war, Bud spent several years as a marine surveyor before joining his family in running the Marina Shipyard in 1978. A member of the Screen Actors Guild, Bud also worked with Vicki Lawrence, a Long Beach resident who played Mama on "The Carol Burnett Show" and "Mama's Family."

Bud also captained the PT boat seen in the opening scenes of another TV show, "McHale's Navy."

Many of Bud's dreams came true, but one of them eluded him - to welcome the USS Iowa aboard P-520, a crash rescue boat that he and Jerry had restored to its original glory during World War II and the Korean War.

The restoration of the 85-foot wooden Army Air Corps crash rescue boat was a labor of love for Bud. He was stationed aboard a crash boat during the Korean War.

"We were working for 5th Air Force Intelligence out of North Korea's Chodo Island about 80 miles north of the 38th Parallel demarcation line," Bud said in an earlier interview. "Our mission was to rescue downed pilots, but, in actuality, we were inserting spies into North Korea. We also flooded the North Korean economy with counterfeit money."

With the help of his son and others at the Marina Shipyard, he took on the daunting task of restoring P-520, finally completing the job seven years and $1 million later.

Jerry said his father had planned to send P-520 to be alongside the USS Alabama in Mobile, but Hurricane Katrina stopped that idea.

Bud was disappointed, but his spirits lifted when the USS Iowa was set to come to San Pedro and he learned the P-520 could play a role in the battleship's tourist attraction.

Unfortunately, because of his ill health, Bud couldn't make it aboard P-520 when it went out to sea May 30 to welcome the Iowa as it was being towed from San Francisco.

When Jerry Tretter saw the battleship in the chilly, gray dawn, tears welled in his eyes.

"We wanted to show our respect to a great ship," Jerry said. "My dad wanted it done that way. All of this was for my dad. It was his dream. I did it for him. I wish he was here."

Jerry's father died two weeks after the Iowa anchored offshore Long Beach for cleaning. It now is permanently berthed in San Pedro.

P-520 will be used as part of the nonprofit organization, "Kids, Hands and Minds Together," to teach young people about engines, navigation, leadership and other activities associated with seamanship.

It will be a fitting legacy to Bud, who spent his life around boats and the water. He will be cremated, and his remains will be spread across the water near Catalina Island in the same place where his wife's remains were cast when she died last year.

"He and mom loved Catalina. Now, they will be together again," said their son, Jerry.

Survivors include sons Jerry (Kathi) and Kurt, one grandchild and two great grandchildren. Services will be held at 11 a.m. June 26 at the Gamby Funeral Home, 25001 Narbonne Ave., Lomita.